Ronaldo relishes ‘beautiful moment’ with new World Cup record
“It’s a beautiful moment in my fifth World Cup,” Ronaldo told reporters. “We won. We started on a good foot. It’s a very important win. We know in these competitions the first match is fundamental. “It’s another record too,” he said. “That makes me very proud. I am very happy for the team to have put on excellent performance. It was difficult but we deserved to win.” Asked about his acrimonious departure from Manchester United this week, Ronaldo said the only thing that counted was Portugal’s win. “All the rest, it doesn’t matter,” he added. Portugal coach Fernando Santos hailed his 37 year-old captain who won a second-half penalty and converted it himself to open the scoring against Ghana. “I think Cristiano is a phenomenon, a legend,” Santos told reporters. “In 50 years time, we will still be talking about him.” Ronaldo was substituted in the 88th minute to a rousing reception around Stadium 974 in Doha at the start of what is likely to be his last World Cup. Santos rebuffed su